Although there is no practical, accurate way to gauge the sentiments of 280 million Americans on any one issue, at the dawn of a new millennium it appears to many people that if the country is to make progress against drug abuse, we should not give up hope, and that all Americans need to share in the responsibility for tackling this problem. Each of us has a positive role to play, whether we be government officials or students, law enforcement officers or factory workers, teachers or religious leaders, health-care providers or retirees. In a nutshell, there is a wide range of tasks that can be undertaken by citizens who are concerned about the drug problem.
Police currently use a variety of informal and formal procedures to address the problem of drug abuse. Informal means include warnings, escorting the inebriate home or arranging for transportation home, and referring nondisorderly inebriates to civil detoxification facilities and mental health centers...